SNB launches competition for new banknote series
Published: Wednesday, Oct 30th 2024, 11:20
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The Swiss National Bank (SNB) wants to develop a new banknote series and is launching a design competition for this purpose. The new notes are to be issued at the beginning of the 2030s at the earliest, as the SNB announced on Wednesday.
According to the SNB, the new banknote series will be launched under the theme "Switzerland and its high altitudes". It will be dedicated to Switzerland's unique topography.
Specifically, for the 10-franc note these are the lowlands, for the 20-franc note the Central Plateau, for the 50-franc note the Jura and for the 100-franc note the foothills of the Alps. For the 200-franc note, the focus is on the mountains and for the 1000-franc note on the high mountains.
This is the task set by the SNB in the design competition. From February to July 2025, competitors will be able to develop banknote designs. This will be followed by an evaluation, according to the statement. The winner will then be commissioned with the further development of the banknote designs.
The SNB intends to announce the results of the competition in fall 2026 and then issue the first banknotes in the early 2030s at the earliest. The SNB is placing high demands on the new series in terms of security, functionality and graphic design, it added. Among other things, it needs security features that are easy to recognize and difficult to counterfeit. They must also be easily distinguishable from one another.
"It is impossible to imagine Switzerland without cash. Cash is and will remain a popular means of payment," said the new SNB President Martin Schlegel at a media conference. For this reason, the further development and redesign of banknotes in terms of security is central and, based on the SNB's mandate to guarantee the supply of cash, also a matter of course.
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